Former Playdom GM Lloyd Melnick Joins Social Start-Up As CEO

Lloyd Melnick, formerly general manager at Walt Disney Company's social games branch Playdom, has taken up a CEO role at social start-up 519 Games. 519 Games is a social web and mobile gaming venture between The E.W. Scripps Company and Capitol Broadcasting, that is looking to release its first games in early 2012. Melnick had previously worked at Playdom for just over a year, where he helped lead the company's growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, among other regions. He quietly revealed the move to 519 Games via a blog post in late August. Along with thanking his colleagues at Disney, Melnick briefly described his plans for his new company. "We are currently building a fantastic team and will be one of the top five social gaming companies (both social web and social mobile) by the end of 2012," he stated. Disney acquired social game developer Playdom last year, as a means of strengthening its digital gaming portfolio, as well as enabling new opportunities for fans to interact with the company and its brands on social networks.